This was a rather odd but welcome addition to the Landmark series, and a capable synthesis of history and science. I also see from the paucity of the reviews that it's definitely not one of the most popular in the series, but I think it's still worth the time. Legitimately, it wasn't one of my favorites in the series, but I do love geology, so it was still a fun read. The language was just a bit cumbersome for me. This edition essentially told the story of life on the American continents, before they were such, actually, and it did a fairly thorough job of describing the profound changes which took place over the course of hundreds of millions of years, and why the geography of the American continents is the way it is now. The book also does a good job of making rather complex material accessible to a younger audience.
It didn't include as much on dinosaurs as I thought it might, but the diversity of topics was impressive for such a short volume. It definitely sacrificed depth for breadth, but provided a good overview. It even touched on the religious question, probably cognizant of the fact that many youngsters would have been told that the earth was created in six literal days, and that the biblical flood was an actual, historical event which occurred only 6,000 years ago, so it's at least sensitive to that viewpoint. My one caveat here: a fair bit of the material is also quite dated, as we've learned a lot in the past half-century. It's greatest strength is the broad-strokes overview which at least provides a decent foundation for further reading.
It didn't include as much on dinosaurs as I thought it might, but the diversity of topics was impressive for such a short volume. It definitely sacrificed depth for breadth, but provided a good overview. It even touched on the religious question, probably cognizant of the fact that many youngsters would have been told that the earth was created in six literal days, and that the biblical flood was an actual, historical event which occurred only 6,000 years ago, so it's at least sensitive to that viewpoint. My one caveat here: a fair bit of the material is also quite dated, as we've learned a lot in the past half-century. It's greatest strength is the broad-strokes overview which at least provides a decent foundation for further reading.
